All The Things Unsaid
by BlackBandit111
Summary: Cas won't say a lot of things that night. He only regrets one. Destiel. Written for prompt: It's the apocalypse, and person A sings quietly in person B's ear. They both know they're going to die soon.


_**Hello Supernatural fandom! I wrote this with my friend Kat for the prompt: Imagine it's the apocalypse, and person A is quietly singing in Person B's ear, knowing they're going to die soon. This is from the episode in Season 5, The End, so that's their characterization. **_

_**Proceed!**_

* * *

Dean walked in with a six pack of beer.

Now, Cas was definitely used to seeing things like this- he, especially, was used to illegal substances in the camp (what with his new hobbies)- but Dean walking in with a six pack was…odd. Dean never had more than one or two beers at one time, especially before a mission, and even then he wouldn't just keep the six pack to himself. Dean knew that Cas preferred the drugs over alcohol, so was he planning to drink all of it?

Dean gave him one long, piercing look, almost as if daring him to say anything. How could Cas, with Dean standing the way he was in the doorway- defensively, like he was waiting for Cas's verbal attack?

"Hey," Cas simply settled on; easy. Not personal-talk inducing.

Dean just gave him another once over before striding over to the bed, perching on the side and taking one of the beer cans. Cracking it open, his head hanging low and his eyes downcast, Dean took a swig, clearing his throat as it went down.

That's when Cas understood. Oh. Oh God.

Blinking away the sudden feeling tightening in his chest, he took a stuttered breath, staring at the top of Dean's head. Willing him to look up. To see Cas sitting there, watching him, knowing. Knowing.

And miraculously, Dean did, raising his eyes to meet Cas's endless blue. He held the gaze for only a moment before dropping it once again back to the beer in hand, taking another swallow.

Cas gulped.

"I'm sorry," Dean said, pursing his lips. Cas wasn't sure how to reply. It was vague, but carried an air of importance. Cas wasn't even sure what Dean was apologizing for; Castiel's fall from Grace, the apocalypse, or what tonight would bring.

Either way, Castiel understood.

"It's not your fault Dean," he replied, not sure of what else he could say but knowing Dean needed to hear something along these lines.

Dean sat in silence a few moments, the only noises coming from outside. It was late evening, dusk only beginning to dissolve into dark, and the camp was readying for sleep and rest. Tomorrow they'd fight another day and sleep another endless nightmare. Cas watched as the last streaks of green and yellow faded from the sky and blue and purple splatters took their place. Night was falling. Just like civilization was; fast, unstoppable. One couldn't stop the sun from going down any more than they could stop the apocalypse from continuing.

Dean seemed to be in a skirmishing mood tonight, because he shook his head and pressed his lips together. "Yes it is. If I had just… said yes to Michael in the first place we wouldn't be here. We wouldn't be risking our lives to, to save the fu-"

Ah. So that's what this was about. Cas wouldn't hear it. Not any of it. Not again. Not when it had nearly torn Dean to pieces the first time, and Cas knew that summoning old demons was dangerous a second time around; knew that they'd shatter him completely if he let them. Which he would, because he was Dean, and Dean always blamed himself for everything.

"Dean, stop," Cas interrupted. Dean's head snapped up, murky green eyes swimming. "You were trying to save the world either way. You did as well as you could in the circumstances and you know it. How were you supposed to know what it would lead to? Don't blame yourself. Put the blame where it belongs- over Lucifer's head."

"Cas, you know that's not true," Dean argued, sounding slightly annoyed but looking…worn. Weary. "I was being selfish and cocky and-you know what? I don't need this right now." Dean took a long drink from the beer before he dropped the empty can, stepping on it and flattening it. Cas didn't go to pick it up, and Dean didn't make a move to do so. "How about we play some music. It's been awhile."

'Awhile' didn't quite cover the year they went without music, the Dark Year where Dean didn't sing or smile or laugh, but Cas let it go. Dean had to do what he had to do, and the taller man knew his own limits most of the time. Cas believed he could do this, even if he was familiar with the technique.

Dean was incredibly good at not-so-subtle evasion.

This once he would let it slip. An argument would only frustrate Dean more, and Cas could see he was too tired to really bicker.

"Hey Cas, you like this song, right?" Dean asked as he raised The Platters album, his eyebrows raising in an echo of amusement. Cas gave a slight smile as the younger man placed the vinyl on the old record player that sat on the nightstand. Dean had once joked it was older than Cas himself.

It certainly did look older than he did, Cas admitted, with its chipped wood and its dusty insides and its rusted brass. But he supposed that it was a little like himself, too; a little battered, but still running. Still sputtering on even against its odds.

The music started as the record began to spin, and Dean started swaying to the rhythm and humming along to the lyrics, not knowing them completely but knowing their tune well enough.

_"When the twilight is gone and no songbirds are singing_

_When the twilight is gone you come into my heart"_

"Come on Cas, dance with me," Dean prompted, giving him an expectant look and outreaching his hand. Cas stood from the bed slowly and floated around the room, feet dancing to the slow beat. His body barely moved except for the slight rock in time with the pace of the song.

"_And here in my heart you will stay, while I pray"_

Cas didn't know how it had happened, but his feet had guided him over closer to Dean, who was gently bobbing around the room. They danced like this for some time, Cas somehow finding Dean closer with every line of the song, until they were almost close enough that if Cas reached out, he could touch.

_ "My prayer is to linger with you__  
At the end of the day in a dream that's divine"_

Surprisingly it was Dean that reached out, just as Cas was seriously beginning to consider it, wrapping one arm around Cas's waist and the other hand threading through Cas's own. It felt warm in his own hand, molding against his palm like it had been meant to fit there all along. He could feel Dean's smile directed at the top of his head, but his eyes were fixed determinedly on the ground at their feet, which moved in tandem around each other in a complex maze of their own, never bumping or brushing. It was a grace Castiel hadn't realized another person besides himself could have.

_"My prayer is rapture in blue__  
with the world far away and your lips close to mine"  
_

Taking a deep breath and cementing his soul, Cas looked up into Dean's eyes, drowning in the emotion in the stunningly endless green. Cas took in a slight breath before looking down. It was too much.

_"Tonight while our hearts are aglow  
Oh tell me the words that I'm longing to know"_

Cas took a deeper breath and moved closer so that their chests were pressed together and Cas's head was in the crook of Dean's neck. Cas had to hold back tears he didn't realize were forming when Dean started singing in a low, deep voice, the same voice he used when he was solemn about something; the same voice he used when he was particularly fond.

_"My prayer and the answer you give__  
May they still be the same for as long as we live  
That you'll always be there at the end of my prayer_"

Cas knew now what his destiny was going to be, by the end of tonight. He was aware of the tears steadily making their way down his cheeks, ashamed of them, but he steadfastly ignored them, hoping Dean would too. It was a silly hope because Cas already knew he would, because Dean wasn't the only one ignoring something. Cas could feel the hand clutching, almost desperately, at the back of his shirt. Could hear the slight waver in Dean's singing. He wouldn't mention it on the way to the mission. He wouldn't tell Dean a lot of thing that night. But he only regretted one.

And if the arms around him tightened a little more in a furtive wish to keep him safe, Cas wouldn't mention that, either.

* * *

_**Kat came up with the baseline and I wrote the details. How'd we do? Wasn't the song fitting? Please leave me a comment on your thoughts and thank you for reading!**_


End file.
